Several months ago I had an incredibly odd and realistic dream, and much to my surprise the contents of the dream stuck with me to this very day. The dream was of a world in chaos, where people with modern technology were at war with advanced technology and magic all at once, embroiled in a battle spanning the entire globe and then some. While mulling over this dream, I was reminded of the Oresteia, Aeschylus’ trilogy of tragedies concerned with the House of Atreus. In the final book of the Oresteia, Prince Orestes is chased to Athens by the Furies, who seek to punish him for the murder of his mother. Thanks to divine intervention, the Furies are convinced to lie dormant beneath Athens and become the Eumenides, or the Kind Ones (also the name of the play). There they shall rest until the trial-by-jury system of Athens fails.

So, I have come up with an RPG setting based upon the synthesis of these two ideas. Modern audiences scoff at the tale of the Eumenides, or at least they do until the system of law fails and the Furies awaken. Somewhat cranky at having been awoken after thousands of years, they rip Athens to pieces as they tear loose from the foundations of the city. In the resulting chaos an unknown party launches an ICBM at Athens, destroying the remainder of the city, killing thousands, and only making the Furies angry.

Since that point, the world has changed dramatically. The primal forces that awoke with the Furies have risen in other parts of the globe, pushing and pulling at the fabric of reality and altering the timelines of geographic locations. Parts of Italy are once again under the Roman Empire, while others have entered the free city system of the Italian Renaissance. Canada remains the last bastion of 21st century civilization, and refugees from around the world flee to its shores. Technology levels vary greatly from region to region, though there is no clear-cut superior system due to the influence of magic and the accelerated technology development in some nations. Natural resources are scarce, the law is unclear, and cooperation between states is rare. Piracy is on the rise once again, and lawless bandits have made the seas and skies dangerous for the unprepared.

The setting is intended to fit any game system, though I will likely end up making it into a Savage Setting for Pinnacle Entertainment Group‘s Savage Worldssystem using a fan license (or a publications license if I’m lucky enough to interest a publisher). Savage Worlds is my first choice of system due to the flexibility inherent in the rules. I plan to make a PDF of the basic world information available later this week, though it will be systemless until I decide which avenue to pursue. As always, content posted here will be under a Creative Commons license.